Saturday, November 12, 2016

Process of Socialization

The process of socialization is either intentional or unintentional. Parents intentionally socialize children. Intentional socialization is the process where parents deliberately and consistently convey or impart important values to children and are reinforced through positive or negative experiences and consequences. For example, if a child goes to a store and buys something and says, "Thank you," when the sales person hands them their bag, a parent has taught them intentionally appropriate social behavior to use when out in public.

Unintentional socialization is the process by which children are socialized spontaneously during human interaction without the deliberate intent to impart knowledge or values. For example, one day my daughter and I were walking in a strip mall by our house. I saw an old man with a walker trying to open a door to one of the businesses, so I opened the door for the man and held it open until he was in the store. I taught her about helping others in a way that was spontaneous and imparted a value of the importance of helping others without meaning to.

The way we think about and view ourselves is a big factor in how others view and interact with us. For example, is someone thinks they know everything they will often share their knowledge about topics, even without being asked to. Sometimes these people are referred to as 'know it all's.' However, if someone does need information about something, they see this person as someone they can ask who may have the information they're looking for, and this therefore affects how others interacts with the person. This also affects how we socialize with others and how others socialize with us.